33 rounds closed this week for ~$3.7B deployed — down 9% from last week's ~$4.1B across 26. Applied AI took 10 of the 33 checks; when one sector absorbs that share, partners in it answer cold decks faster — deployment pressure is visible. 106 more raises surfaced only in Form D filings, with no press coverage — fresh capital nobody is watching yet. If either is your lane, the window argues for sending your deck this week, not next.
📊 The Week's Deployment
Stage | Rounds | Total deployed |
Pre-seed | 4 | ~$11.5M |
Seed | 12 | ~$279.4M |
Series A | 9 | ~$498.4M |
Series B | 4 | ~$2.4B |
Growth (Series C+) | 1 | ~$100M |
Most active sector: applied AI (10 of 33 rounds). Quietest: defense & space (1). One check skews the Series B line: Shanghai Spacecom is ~$1.9B of it — the other 3 sum to ~$490.5M.
✅ Who Wrote Checks
The full list, free, as always — 33 rounds with stage, sector, and lead investor:
Shanghai Spacecom — $1.9B Series B, no lead named, defense & space · satnews.com |
Higgsfield — $400M Series B, led by DST Global · Moneycontrol.com |
Starcloud — $250M Series A, led by Ken Abdalla, applied AI · Unite.AI |
Wintermute — $190M Undisclosed stage, led by ETH · CryptoRank |
Rivian spinout Also — $150M Undisclosed stage, led by Prysm Capital · TechCrunch |
Velaura AI — $110M Series A, led by Seligman Ventures, applied AI · Yahoo Finance |
Rillet — $100M Growth (Series C+), led by Iconiq, applied AI · TechCrunch Venture |
Callosum — $100M Seed, led by Atomico, applied AI · Tech Funding News |
Veeda AI — $90M Seed, led by Khosla Ventures, applied AI · SiliconANGLE |
Blank Street — $75M Series B, led by General Atlantic · Dealroom |
Helcim — $53M Undisclosed stage, no lead named, fintech · BetaKit |
Vals AI — $40M Series A, no lead named, applied AI · KuCoin |
MaxQ Medical — $31.5M Series A, no lead named, healthcare · PR Newswire |
Twin1 AI — $20M Seed, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, applied AI · Yahoo Finance |
‘Digital Twin’ Startup Twin A1 — $20M Seed, no lead named · Law.com |
Ex-Eigen Team — $20M Seed, no lead named · Artificial Lawyer |
FSH Technologies — $20M Series A, no lead named (press figure; the Form D shows $24.1M total offering) · FinSMEs |
Pixelgen Technologies — $15.5M Series B, no lead named · FinSMEs |
XCards — $15M Series A, no lead named · Dealroom |
Rezolv — $12.5M Series A, led by Norwest, applied AI · nextbillion.net |
Dolce Glow — $11M Series A, no lead named · WWD |
Jem — $8.4M Series A, led by Quona Capital, applied AI · africaprivateequitynews.com |
Xpander — $7.5M Seed, no lead named, applied AI · Financial IT |
Synthefy — $6.5M Seed, no lead named · FinSMEs |
Mafix — $5.4M Pre-seed, no lead named, healthcare · agnavigator.com |
Grounded — $5M Seed, no lead named · Pulse 2.0 |
Willow Voice — $4.2M Seed, no lead named · Dealroom |
Swish Basket — $3.2M Pre-seed, no lead named · Sports Business Journal |
Noggin HQ — £2.3M (~$3M) Seed, no lead named, fintech · Open Banking Expo |
HeyBreez — $2.5M Seed, led by Lunara Partners · FWDStart |
Dirac Labs — $1.8M Pre-seed, no lead named · Quantum Computing Report |
Guideless — €1M (~$1.1M) Pre-seed, no lead named · IT Brief UK |
Zaydn — $681K Seed, led by Inflection Point Ventures · BW Disrupt |
🔍 Investor Spotlight: DST Global
DST Global wrote 1 check in the last two weeks — 1 as lead (~$400M deployed). Led: Higgsfield ($400M Series B).
Pitching any of this week’s check-writers? Get a VC-style read on your deck before you send it. Get your free verdict first.
📄 Filing Watch
6 raises surfaced in SEC Form D filings this week that no outlet has covered. The 6 below are the largest of 106 venture-relevant Form Ds we tracked with no coverage. Quiet raises tell you two things: who has fresh capital without the spotlight, and which investors are moving without press. Both are outreach gold. One caveat: Form D lags some closings — treat it as a signal, not ground truth.
IREN Ltd — ~$464.9M total offering, Form D filed August 18 · filing |
Lovable Labs Inc — ~$382.5M total offering, Form D filed August 17 · filing |
Tejon HoldCo, LLC — ~$295M total offering, Form D filed August 17 · filing |
Tejon Management, LLC — ~$295M total offering, Form D filed August 17 · filing |
Tejon Treating & Carbon Solutions LLC — ~$295M total offering, Form D filed August 17 · filing |
CSS Solutions LLC — ~$122.9M total offering, Form D filed August 21 · filing |
💰 Fresh Dry Powder
5 venture funds filed Form Ds for their own new money this week. New funds mean deployment pressure on a clock — a firm that just closed is answering cold decks, not passing on them. Names and filings below.
Altimeter Premier Growth VIII, L.P. — ~$1.6B in the filing, Form D filed August 20 · filing |
Accel Core L.P. — ~$749.6M in the filing, Form D filed August 19 · filing |
Team8 Capital III, L.P. — ~$265.6M in the filing, Form D filed August 18 · filing |
Reach Capital — ~$265M reported, announced August 18 · TechCrunch Venture |
RV BF1, L.P. — ~$250M in the filing, Form D filed August 17 · filing |
🎯 If You're Raising This Month
Seed is where the volume is: 12 of 33 rounds — 7 last week, 12 this week. Applied AI took 10 of 33 checks overall; if that's your lane, sequence outreach to the firms above this week — momentum begets attention. Defense & space saw 1; if that's you, plan for a longer conversation and lead with revenue, not narrative.
About to pitch? Don’t send the deck you have — send the deck that survives a partner meeting.
— Martin
Free forever. If this saved you an hour of funding-news archaeology, forward it to a founder who is raising. |